Heat map: Maybe Seattle’s gloomy weather isn’t so bad

You could look at this heat-wave map from NASA two ways. The glass-half-empty folks might bemoan how summer is in full force for the rest of the country, while the Pacific Northwest seems stalled in below-average temperatures and gloom.

But people who see the glass-half-full (of rainwater, most likely) could feel a little smug about our little corner of the country. After all, everyone sweating through temperatures in the 90s elsewhere might think we have it pretty good. (Or maybe not. You tell me.)

Here’s the heat-wave map from NASA, showing surface temperature anomalies for June 17–24. Red shows where temperatures are warmer than average. Blue shows — you guessed it — where temperatures are cooler than the average base period between 2000-2011.

Since at least 1988, climate scientists have warned that climate change would bring, in general, increased heat waves, more droughts, more sudden downpours, more widespread wildfires and worsening storms. In the United States, those extremes are happening here and now.

So far this year, more than 2.1 million acres have burned in wildfires, more than 113 million people in the U.S. were in areas under extreme heat advisories last Friday, two-thirds of the country is experiencing drought, and earlier in June, deluges flooded Minnesota and Florida.